The archipelago of the Province of Zeeland in the Netherlands is created by the storm tide in the
year 1134.

US immigrants who came from the Dutch Flemish Region, the Southern Province of Zeeland in the
Netherlands.
Those families came from the Village of IJzendijke (Isendieka) and Aardenburg.
Both have ancestors who came from West Flanders, in the 19th century a part of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands, at the present day: Belgium.
Those families are Palmer and DeSutter.

Lion of Flanders.

The picture shows what a blighted potato looks like.
They have a soggy consistency and smell badly.

Webmaster:
For our friends in Manito, Havana-IL, Scappoose and Portland-OR the familly history and genealogical
tree of the Palmer and the DeSutter family.

I took the opportunity to dig up the past and ensure your children know their ancestors.

Page
in Dutch
Pagina in Nederlands

US Immigrants from the Flemish Region - Flanders

Dutch and Flemish History.

The
Eighty Years' War (1568-1648) divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces, the
Republic of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands (the "Federated Netherlands" or
in latin "Belgica Federata") and the Southern Netherlands ("Belgica Regia"). The
latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and comprised most of
modern Belgium. This was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th
and 18th centuries.
Before the French Revolutionary Wars, Southern Netherlands (Belgium) had been known since 1714 as
Austrian Netherlands when Austria took possession of the Spanish Netherlands. Nominally ruled by the
Hapsburg monarchy from Vienna.
It enjoyed considerable autonomy until 1789, when the Austrian emperor attempted to centralize and
consolidate his authority in the region. Upset with the loss of autonomy, and influenced by the
events in neighboring France, the Belgians revolted and in 1790 declared their independence as the
United States of Belgium.
The Austrians quickly regained control, but soon found themselves at war with the revolutionary
regime in France. Following the campaigns of 1794 in the French Revolutionary Wars, the Low
Countries-including territories that were never nominally under Habsburg rule, were annexed by the
French First Republic, ending Austrian rule in the region. During the 18th century, the northern
Netherlands experienced a long period of decline and the country was embroiled in several wars,
mostly involving England and France, as the nations fought for supremacy at sea.
Gradually, the Northern Netherlands declined in importance, as the economic and colonial power of
England and France grew.
The French army was ready to march into the Northern Netherlands in 1794 but the end of the republic
came in 1795 when Dutch rebels, unhappy with their
leader William V, formed the Batavian (Dutch) Republic with the
help of revolutionary French. The French had forbidden the puppet Dutch
("Batavian") Republic to trade with Britain, and the Dutch economy had suffered
greatly. In reality, the Netherlands became a French protectorate. An Anglo-
Russian force of 32,000 men landed in Den Helder a town in North Holland on
August 27,1799, captured the Dutch fleet on August 30 and the city of Alkmaar on
October 3. Following a series of smaller battles at Bergen on September 19 and
other towns, they faced the French and Dutch armies in the dunes of Castricum on
October 6. The 'Battle of Castricum' saw a France-Dutch force defeat an Anglo-
Russian force near Castricum. The battle was fought during the War of the Second
Coalition against Revolutionary French between French- Dutch forces and British-
Russian forces. The town of Castricum passed from British-Russian to Batavian-
French hands several times until the former finally fled. This was one of the bloodiest wars
on Dutch soil. After a chaotic retreat the parties signed the Convention of Alkmaar on October
10,1799. There is still a house in Castricum which shows a cannonball which striked into the outer
wall on Sunday October 6,1799.
Napoleon became the emperor of France in 1806 and with the rise of Napoleon, french rule over
Austrian Netherlands became more constructive, including the revitalization of industry and --with
the opening of the Schelde, seaway through Zeelandic Flanders-- the partial recovery of Antwerp.
Napoleon declared his brother Louis Bonaparte, King of the Netherlands. Louis abdicated in 1810 and
the great Allied powers decreed that the Southern Netherlands would become a part of the Kingdom of
the Netherlands, ruled by the first king of the Kingdom, King Willem I, known as Willem VI of the
intensely Calvinist Orange family that had ruled as Stadtholder in the Dutch Republic. It was
supposed to be a joint kingdom, with dual capitals in The Hague and Brussels. King Willem, however,
became increasingly authoritarian and was insensitive to his Belgian subjects. His declaration of
Dutch as the sole official language upset the french-speaking Walloons, and his attempts to impose
the teaching of Calvinist doctrine in the schools offended both French and Dutch-speaking Catholics.
The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the
dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815. The 1830 Belgian Revolution led to the establishment
of a Catholic and bourgeois, officially french-speaking and neutral, independent Belgium under a
provisional government and a national congress. Following a usage which can be traced back to the
Burgundian and Habsburgian courts in the 19th century it was necessary to speak french to belong to
the governing upper class, and those who could only speak Dutch were effectively second-class
citizens. Late that century, and continuing into the 20th century, Flemish movements evolved to
counter this situation. While the Walloons and most Brusselers adopted french as their first
language the Flemings refused to do so and succeeded progressively in imposing Dutch as Flander's
official language. Many flemish people still speak dialects of Dutch in their local environment. It
was a barrier against the France occupation in the South. After the Imperial French Army was
defeated by combined armies of the Anglo-Allied army at Waterloo in present Belgium, June 1815,
Belgiums borders with France were settled in 1830, and in 1839 Dutch King Willem I agreed to an
independent Belgium, including West- and East Flanders. Zeelandic-Flanders became part of the Dutch
Province Zeeland.
Many flemish farmers from West Flanders moved closer to Zeeland, affraid of the french influence in
the South. These people were all farm-hands and during the winter there was no work and no pay. For
living in this time, they had to save money during the summer. Most of the fieldworkers who
immigrate in America came from those areas. One of the reasons for emigration was principally the
fail of the harvest in 1845 en 1846. In July 1845 an illness broke out in the potatoes (phytoftora
infestans) and in 1846 of the rye. More then one-third of the flemish people were poor and lived on
the edge of poverty for years. If somebody got ill, there was no money to pay a doctor or medicines.
There were family’s where many children died and in other families a few. Life was hard in those
days and it was a naturaly selection. The potato famine lasted till 1854.

Flemish
farmhands.

Most of the farmhands who immigrate in America came from East- and Zeelandic Flanders. One of the
reasons for emigration was the seperation of Protestants from the Netherdeutch Reformed Church, they
felt hinderd in practising their religion. They're surging for freedom of religion in America. An
other reason was principally the 'Potato Blight' in 1845 and the fail of the harvest in 1846.
In July 1845 an illness broke out in the potato crobs (phytoftora infestans) and in 1846 of the rye
and wheat. Big potato-fields got ill, the leafs of the potatoes got dark spots and the tubers
started to rot. How to control this illness was not known in that time but it seems the virus came
from North-America were the illness be prevalent in the years before. In the whole of Flanders was
famine which continued till 1854. There was starvation by more then one-third of the Flemish people.
They were poor and lived on the edge of poverty for years. If somebody got ill, there was no money
to pay a doctor or medicines. There where family’s were many children died and in other families a
few. Life was hard in those days and it was a naturaly selection. They eat mainly potatoes, if there
were enough, two times a day often without meat or vagetables. Baked their bread themselves because
there was no money to buy.
It was the poverty and the insecurety and the change for a better life who did the people came to
decide to emigrate. This conclusion was very difficult, because the people knew that it was often a
farewell for always. They sold everything they had to pay the voyage and after they left they
couldn‘t come back. Most immigrants in Atkinson-IL came from Zeelandic Flanders, from the Villages
Eede, St.Kruis, Aardenburg and IJzendijke (Isendieka) and from villages in East Flanders, Lembeke
and Eeklo. They got land in homestead from the American government and it became their property
after they reclaimed the land for agriculture by 'untree' it. Build themselves a house from the
timber, baked bread from the flour which came in by sloe or horses.

Immigrants from the Flemish Region.

The big rush
of emigrants to America started in 1845, course the potato famine (see above: Flemish Farmers), it
was the greatest movement of people in history.
Between 1820 and 1949; 39,076,000 people came to the USA as immigrant, they came from different
countries in Europe. Till 1891 they arrived at Castle Garden-New York and from 1892 on Ellis Island.
Between 1845 and 1930, 250,000 Flemish people immigrated into the USA. A top was the year 1882,
accepted were 9,519 Dutch people, most from West Flanders and Zeelandic Flanders. Reason for
emigration in the eighteen-eighties was the agriculture crisis from 1880 till 1895. The price of
grain went down to a minimum by the import of cheap grain from, paradoxical, the USA, and most
farmers had a small farm with not enough land to live on.
Thousands left through Antwerp on sailships or steamers, they travelled steerage. Hunger and thirst
were the enemies on those ships. They had to bring blankets, sheets, plates and things for washing
by themselfs.
There was food per person on board: 30 pound biscuits,15 pound rise, 10 pound flower, 15 pound of
beans and pies, 10 pound pork, 10 pound meat, 50 pound potato's, 2 pound coffee, 2 pound salt, and 2
bottles of vinegar. They had to cook there meals themselfs. From New York they sailed to Albany by
steamer and further through the Erie Channel to the west. It took 5 days from Albany to
Rochester-NY. Speed was 7 mph.
From there over the Great Lakes to Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois or down the Mississippi to the
South.
It was possible to travel by train in those days. Around 1840, Dutch families had settled in Wayne
County, East of Rochester-NY. Other immigrants ended up at Sheboygan and Cedar Grove-WI. In
Sheboygan County lived already ~3,000 Dutch in 1857. Along the Mississippi in the state of Illinois
the town MOLINE was created in 1848 by immigrants from Belgium and catholics from Zeelandic
Flanders. In 1830 this area belong to the Sacs-Indians with chief Black Hawk. The colonist's beat
the indians in 1832. The town Moline-IL is named after a man from France who had build a mill in the
Mississippi-river. Railroadmen Charles Atkinson and colonel Davenport were the men in charge who
took care of the new railroad from Chicago to Moline in 1857. Davenport gave his name to a town on
the other side of the Mississippi opposite Moline. A welknown company that started that time is John
Deere. From 1900 till 1910 the population of Moline-IL was more then 70% of Flemish origin, from
Belgium. Charles Atkinson gave his name to the Village of ATKINSON-IL in 1856 where farming was
developed by Flemish immigrants. Most immigrants in Atkinson-IL came from Zeelandic Flanders, from
the Villages Eede, St.Kruis and in Manito-IL from the Village of IJzendijke (Isendieka). Pieter
Daane, who came from the Village of Oostburg in Zeelandic Flanders is the founder of the Village of
Oostburg-WI, south of Sheboygan. A desent of Peter Daane, who runs a Ford garage and sales business
and being a scout in Oostburg-WI, came over to Holland on April 28, 1970 to visit the tourist-office
and on May 2, the scouting group St.Eloy at Oostburg.

-------->
SS Amsterdam-I from
Rotterdam, Boulonge-France
to Castle Garden-New York
Arrival: November 22, 1883
On this voyage
Leonardus van Pamelen
spouse Hendrika and their three sons

Engle Bert Palmer and Nathalia
sailed on the SS Amsterdam-II
from Rotterdam to New York
Arrival: October 13, 1888

This particular ship Amsterdam-I was built in 1879 in Scotland.
Its maiden voyage departed Rotterdam for New York on
March 27, 1880. On July 30, 1884 it ran aground off of
Nova Scotia and was declared a total loss.Click ship for more details.

<------
Depart from Antwerp ~1850
during the potato-famine in
West- and East Flanders-Belgium

State of MINNESOTA

The state of
Minnesota had a lot of ground to develop around the railroad of the Winona & St.Peter
Railroad to the Dakota territory round 1872. The bisshop of St.Paul, John Ireland, tried to get a
lot of catholic immigrants to work and live there. A rich farmer from West Flanders, Angelus Hee,
got 125 acre of land and reclaimed it for agriculture. After he succeded he returned to
Flanders-Belgium
to get his family and making propaganda for a good life in Minnesota. He left Belgium March 1881
with an other 350 colonist's to Grandview-MN, the only place in Lyon County with a station on the
railroad. Most of the colonists settled in the Moline-IL area and only 12 families arrived in
Grandview-MN which became a village in 1878. Later in 1883 Grandview changed her name into Ghent,
named after the Belgium town Gent. One of those families are Karel Franciscus and Maria Francisca
DeSutter from Lembeke-Belgium, he ended up in Grandview-MN. Two sons of them went to America in
1881-82. The family came over December 1882. They found each other back two miles NW of Grandview
(Ghent)-MN. The first winter 1882-83 was cold, snowstorms and frost during weeks. There was not
enough food and they hunt for ducks, fazants and rabits. July 2, 1890 a tornado blowed all buildings
down. Some family members were badly wounded. After 10 years hard work son Camile Francies DeSutter
bought more and more land and called it "DeSutter Farmstead".

State of New York

Long before
the great rush, Dutch families from West-Zeelandic Flanders settled in Wayne County, East of
Rochester. They made their home in the towns Williamson and Pultneyville. Jannes Cappon from Cadzand
in Zeeland arrived in New York on April 26, 1841, he setteled in Pultneyville. Jannes and Jacob
Puijenbroek from Aardenburg, who arrived in 1844, were impressed by the possibillities in the erea
to make the land suitable for agriculture. They wrote letters to to family and freinds in Holland.
The front of immigrants had reached the State of New York and they encouraged others to follow them.
Nathalia Maria van Pamelen (D.10.4.1.) and spouse Adrianus Boonman made their home in Newark
Wayne County in 1920. Her sister Stephanie Maria van Pamelen (D.10.4.4.) lived already in
Rochester Monroe County since 1914 and encouraged her sister to come over with her husband.
From all immigrants in the State of New York are 2% of the Dutch nationality.

Village of ATKINSON-IL

As a
fieldworker in the Flemish Region you only earn payment in summertime, work on different farms,
sleep on the farm in a seperate barn without heating, water and light. Most people were not strong
and were hungry. They lived on the edge of poverty. Reason for emigration was principally the
potato-famine in the Flemish Region which started in 1845 with an illness in the potatoes and last
till 1854. A lot of poor fieldworkers and small farmers, settled East of Moline-IL, in Atkinson and
also in Geneseo and Kewanee-IL around 1880-82. They got forest-grounds in homestead, it became their
property after they had the land reclaimed for agriculture.
They build sawing-mills and the pine logs where used to build houses. On the red clay they sow wheat
and corn. A part of the land became grassland for their live-stock. They did it the Dutch-way, the
farmer sold his grain and straw, his wife took care of their lifestock by selling the milk, eggs,
fruit and vegetables to the shops in the Villages. The few inhabitants that time were mostly
catholics from Lembeke-Belgium (Martens family B.3.3. on DeSutter) and Zeelandic Flanders,
the Villages Eede, St.Kruis and IJzendijke-Holland.
De Zutter's ancestor Franciscus (I. on Ancestors) lived in Lapscheure-Belgium, his son in
Moerkerke-Belgium and a grandson in Middelburg-B., their descendants finally ended up in
Eede-Holland and moved later to Aardenburg-Holland in the southern part of the province of Zeeland
the Netherlands. Franciscus de Sutter (B.3. on Ancestors) emigrate in 1907 and ended up in
Atkinson-IL and moved later to Geneseo-IL. Franciscus knew family of his brother-in-law Jacobus
Dhondt (B.2.) who immigrate in the area of Ghent Lyon County-MN and moved later to
Atkinson-IL. An other DeSutter family, most of them living in the area of Atkinson and Geneseo-IL,
have ancestors who lived in Lembeke and Eeklo in the Dutch Flemish Region, today East Flanders,
Belgium. Those two DeSutter families are not related, but know each other well.

Village of MANITO-IL

Palmer's
ancestor Laurentius van Pamelen (C. on Ancestors) who lived in Ruiselede-Belgium moved in
1745 to Lapscheure-Belgium and his son Leonardus (D. on ancestors) moved in 1805 to
Biervliet-Holland. Leonardus van Pamelen (D.10. on Palmer family) immigrate in 1883 in the
State New York with his wife Hendrika and three of his four sons, and start farming in Manito-IL
early 1885. Son Venantius stayed in Holland and his oldest son Engelbertus returned to Holland to
marry and came back to his parents in Manito-IL October 1888 with his wife Nathalia de Sutter (B.5.
on Ancestors). Nathalia was the first of the DeSutter family in the Manito area. Her nephews Louis
and August de Sutter came over in 1905 and start working for Engle Bert van Palmer (D.10.1.
on Palmer family). One year later, in May 1906, Nathalia's brother Augustus de Sutter (B.1.
on Ancestors) came over with his wife Ludovica and youngest son Chris, to join his sons Louis and
August DeSutter, who were farming for Engle Bert van Palmer, west of Manito-IL since March 1905.

There
are two families with ancestors from Belgium and the Netherlands:
The Palmer family who are living in the Manito, Havana-IL, Aberdeen-SD and Portland-OR area,
and other van Pamelen immigrants living in the Rochester-NY area.
The DeSutter family living in Manito, Mt.Sterling, Atkinson and Geneseo-IL.
Read their family story first by clicking a name.
Or: download their family story and genealogical tree in PDF-format.